I was noticing how big the packs looked here, and while I payed attention to the extra food and warm clothing points made, I can't help but wonder what is taking up all that room. Maybe I missed it earlier, but did the Tougas' put out individual gear lists with weights or were they not really that into the whole UL, light pack weight thing? I am just interested in going over their gear lists, weights of the items they are bringing, etc. It would be pretty useful to get that info for the average family looking to hike long distance together in any form…

– We are doing the best we can within our financial constraints to be lightweight, but we are not ideal. That can cost a lot of money, especially when outfitting five, and three of them are growing quickly. Occasionally we make changes (purchase lighter gear) as funds allow, but we are also wearing through clothing already (esp. merino) and need to reserve cash to replace that stuff.

– We are carrying extra weight in electronics/camera gear to make the video series. For example, my pack weight is at least 5 lbs heavier than it would be without that gear.

– Our current pack weights are (approximately) 35 for me, 32 for my wife, and 23, 21, and 18 for our kids with about five days worth of food. Food weighs a lot, and healthy food takes up space (we are not on a diet of snickers, pop tarts and ramen). We are currently at 1.8 lbs per person per day, which means we carry 45 lbs of food between us after a resupply.